Browsing Category
Tabletop
Alubari: A Nice Cup of Tea is far more intense than it sounds
If you’re familiar with a popular worked placement game called Snowdonia, then it would probably suffice to say that the subject of today’s review, Alubari: a Nice Cup of Tea, is more or less the same game but set in India. Sadly though,…
Darksiders: The Forbidden Land — The Horsemen Ride Again!
There are additional challenges along the way, including escort quests, bosses to fight, and secret doors to open, but the core mechanics stay fairly similar. You’ll find that your character develops over the course of the chapters — each…
Tang Garden — a visual feast for gamers of all levels
It’s 8th century China, the Tang dynasty, and Emperor Xuanzong wants a garden building where he can live with his concubine. Players take on the roles of garden designers, placing tiles in the garden to create areas of enchanting terrain…
Gears: The Deck-builder is a cute but cunning deckbuilder now on Kickstarter
Gears: The Deck-builder is available to back on Kickstarter now and at the time of writing, has just a couple of days left to run. It has already hit the funded mark and so will be fulfilled, so if it takes your fancy, now's the time.…
Metro X takes you on a Draw-and-Write tour of the Underground
Although I’ve only played a few personally, the Roll-and-Write genre is becoming ever more popular among board gamers. Played on a printed sheet with nothing but a pen and a few dice (in most cases) these games are fast and filled with…
Monster Splat has very sticky hands
When I saw Monster Splat, I fell in love with the idea of having those sticky monster hands as the main component in a game. This colourful and cute game for two to four players is great for children and adults alike as it has an age rating…
Flip Over Frog is a Perfect Game for Players of All Ages
With an age rating of six and upwards and lasting just ten minutes per game, you’d be forgiven for passing Flip Over Frog off as a pure children’s game. Whilst it is aimed at younger players and perhaps portable gaming, there’s a lot more…
Star Wars: Dark Side Rising — It finds my lack of faith disturbing
The latest entry in The Op’s Rising series sees up to four players working together to try and prevent the Empire’s superweapon, the Death Star, from being built. Players recruit agents and go on missions but must beware the baleful gaze of…
Hero’s Crossing — selling to heroes before someone else does!
Hero’s Crossing is a two to four player, town-building management game where your dice are a valued resource and trying to sell items to heroes is your plan, all before your competitors are able to claim these heroes for themselves. The…
Oriflamme is a deadly card game that will spoil your party
I don’t often play what I would consider to be party games, and as a rule, I discount them on the basis that they lack the decisions and depth that I seek. Oriflamme rewrites the rulebook thanks to its exciting, often outright mean…
Break the monotony of lockdown with Imhotep: The Duel
Last year, I was lucky enough to grab a copy of Phil Walker-Hardings' Imhotep, a two to four-player game in which the players compete to build pyramids, obelisks and tombs in honour of the Pharaoh. In Imhotep: The Duel, the gameplay is…
Airship City — Unique movement mechanics are not enough to propel this game to greatness
Airship City sees up to four players competing to provide the most for the betterment of a great metropolis in the sky. Harvest resources, contribute towards communal social projects and fulfil supply requests but plan carefully because, in…
Playing solo game The Ratcatcher is a great way to pass time during lockdown
Although we haven’t covered many solo board games here at B3, when we have come across them we’ve enjoyed them. Nemo’s War, Cities: Skylines and The Rise and Fall of Anvalor all managed to put a smile on my face, but The Ratcatcher, which…
Roam continues the walkabout theme of Near and Far, but leaves a smaller footprint
Whilst the box is much smaller and the gameplay a little lighter, Roam continues to expand Ryan Laukat’s existing universe both visually and thematically, with characters that are similar to both Above and Below and Near and Far and a…
Sami Laakso’s Dale of Merchants 3 Kickstarter is imminent!
If you’re a regular reader of B3’s tabletop section, you’ll know that we’re huge fans of the Dale of Merchants series of games, thanks to our coverage of Dale of Merchants 1 and 2 and Dale of Merchants Collection. This May, Snowdale Design…
The Champion of the Wild asks all the right questions
Now don’t be shy, you can’t tell me that you’ve never wondered who would win in a fight between a tiger and a polar bear, or whether an elephant is a better endurance swimmer than a leopard. It’s OK, we’ve all asked those questions at some…
Barenpark is cheap, simple and one of the best tile placement games money can buy
OK, I admit it; when I came into the process of reviewing Barenpark, I’d never played it before. With a game like this comes baggage — the weight of expectation. Everyone has an opinion on it, whether that be because they think it’s too…
Creator Interview — Dávid Turczi — Excavation Earth
Dig deep with an interview with Dávid Turczi, a prominent solo game designer — on his methods and his upcoming Kickstarter Game, Excavation Earth!
Smoothies blends dice rolling and bingo
Smoothies is a game titled as if it is a food game, but do not be fooled, it isn't really a food game. That doesn't mean it’s a bad game — Smoothies reminded me of Bingo, but in a way that you are doing math and having power-ups to juggle.…
Bring Your Little Monsters to the Table in Jurassic Snack
If your kids (or really any kids that you’ve been entrusted to look after) have a passing interest in dinosaurs, then you simply must introduce them to Jurassic Snack. This gorgeous small box game is a two-player feast that is suitable for…